St Eustathios of
Antioch

Memory celebrated February 21

The early church of Jesus Christ was composed of five
Episcopal sees, each supreme in its own sphere of influence
and collectively answerable to the Kings of Kings. The five
centres of Christianity were in the cities of Alexandria,
Antioch, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Rome, the last of
which, because it was the political centre of the empire,
had a bishop, as did all the others, who was honoured with
the title of "first among equals."

St. Eustathios of Antioch is a little-known saint, not
because of his small contribution, but because his stature
has diminished over the years because Antioch is scarcely
more than a memory. The assertiveness of Rome in 1054 AD
split the East and West in a 900-year rift.

Many heresies dogged the early Christian Church. A
Council was called by the Emperor Constantine in 325 AD to
put an end to the internal strife caused by the Arian and
other heresies of the time. Among the champions of tradition
called upon to discredit Arianism was the venerable
Patriarch of Antioch, Eustathios, who joined other clerics
of distinction in a condemnation of the wily Arius,
excommunicated in a document with such a conciliatory tone
that allowed his followers in the Middle East to continue to
influence thought after the Council had adjourned. Each of
the dignitaries returned to his respective community
convinced that peace and order had been restored, but that
was hardly the case. The Arians were stubborn fanatics, as
subsequent events were to prove.

While yet discredited they sought to fight back by
bringing about a denunciation by devious means of those who
had been in the ban at the council which had been so nobly
conducted, only to be attached later on. The prime target
for the malcontents who refused to concede to the truth was
Bishop Eustathios, whose downfall was carefully plotted and
relentlessly pursued. They set false rumours into
circulation, nursing these vile innuendos until they assumed
serious proportions which they were clever enough to make
appear credible. With mounting howls of protests for the
bishop of Antioch to step down, the detractors of Eustathios
sent a delegation to the emperor with documents tailored to
their claims of the holy man's guilt, the clamour being
capped by a sworn statement of a bribed prostitute that the
aging bishop had fathered her illegitimate child. When
Constantine hesitated to act even with this contrived
evidence, Eustathios was then falsely accused of having
deliberately insulted the sister of the emperor. With ever
mounting criticism assuming the proportions of a storm of
protest never before to reach the royal household,
Constantine finally gave in to the Arians in Thrace.

The woman's confession on her deathbed that she had lied
after accepting a bribe to falsely accuse the bishop came
late. Eustathios died in exile on February 21, but his
earthly remains were brought back to Antioch for an
apologetic funeral service at which he was eulogised by the
greatest orator of all time, St John Chrysostom.